Falling Together
by Ashplosion
Summary: Far away, nothing can be heard...not even a sound. The two of us got close, almost like love. We'd been alone, together, through it all.
1. Minako

_Far away, nothing can be heard, not even a sound_  
 _The two of us got close, almost like love_

* * *

We always fell together when the moments were too intense. When we remembered D point. After her heart crystal had been ripped from her chest. Usagi and Mamoru's wedding. Chibiusa's birth. Haruka and Michiru's engagement. Relationships around us intensifying. We were alone through it all.

She was so good at maintaining those carefully constructed walls; it seemed they only came down for me. No, she tore them down for me when she couldn't stand being alone. I did the same for her.

For a Goddess of Love, I was sorely lacking of a love in my own life.

For a Goddess of Passion, she had no one to truly share hers with.

Of course, I knew what the issue was, but I couldn't figure out why it had become an issue. We'd been lovers in previous lives-all of them. For whatever reason, though, we'd not fallen for each other in this incarnation. We'd fallen _together_ , but not for one another.

Artemis had asked me what the deal was on more than one occasion. He didn't know about the physical aspect of our friendship, but he couldn't fathom Venus and Mars _not_ being lovers. To be honest, neither could I. I had my memories, with startling clarity even. I could remember the color of her eyes, darkened with lust. I could remember the way her mouth tasted. I experienced those in this lifetime and in every lifetime before this. But I could also remember those quiet nights where we lay on the sand on the moon, watching the Earth go by. She'd rest a hand on my chest, her head on my shoulder. I always said the same thing in those moments. "I love you, Mars. Don't ever forget that." She always smiled. "And I will love you for all eternity."

Why, then, in this time, this life, had we not fallen in love with each other?

I continued to turn these thoughts over in my mind, every time we fell together. With every kiss, every touch, every gasp. I wondered, and I sensed-though with no certainty-that she did too. I couldn't know what memories of hers had come flooding back, but every time I climbed into her bed, or she in mine, I wondered. The intensity gradually deepened, and I wondered every time if we'd ever wind up together. We hadn't thus far, but we both allowed the affair to continue.

I'd fallen for Usagi, and so had she. We both knew this, and knew the other knew it, but had never spoken about it. Neither of us, I figured, wanted to label this thing as a _substitute_ for what we couldn't have.

I'd met her in the orchard one night, and there, in the seclusion of the trees, we'd fallen together as always. Her hands roaming my body brought back memories, memories from another lifetime. Those deep, unusual eyes darkened with lust had a different hue in the light of the moon. And everything clicked into place for me.

This thing had been bothering me because I _had_ fallen for her. Those eyes in the moonlight brought those memories to the surface, memories that had never occured to me during our encounters, but always afterward. We'd always left the lights off during our previous encounters, but this time, when I could actually see her, the color of those eyes... the color of _Mars'_ eyes, Venus in me awakened fully, and the realization of the loss of this love caused me to falter so badly she'd cupped my cheek and looked at me questioningly. I kissed her in response, allowing all of the energy, the feeling to release in that kiss, in that moment.

That moment had taken me back millennia, to the time that Venus and Mars had shared their first kiss.

We continued falling together after that, but the bittersweet side was that I could only have part of what I wanted. I had her body, but Usagi still had her soul.


	2. Rei

_The memories flooded over, falling and breaking to pieces_  
 _If there are no words, I have a painful premonition_

* * *

Sometimes, I couldn't stand to be alone. She was always there, when the lonely nights became unbearable. We fell into escapism faster than ever. We used each other to run from an unrequited love, and we allowed ourselves to be used.

We ran, searching for each other, when the emotions were so overwhelming it hurt.

For me, it had changed. The first few times were more or less to get Usagi off our minds, but gradually, I began to take serious notice of the blonde that liked to creep into my bed on those absolute worst nights, that I allowed to slide under my blanket, that I allowed to kiss me.

None of my fellow Scouts could understand what it felt like to have your soul removed from your body, but I remembered, with all the agony of the moment, the sheer _pain_. She'd crept into my bed that night; those hands were so comforting when they touched me.

After that, my meditations and dreams had changed. The gods still allowed me to see whatever I needed to see to be relevant to my duties as a Scout, but more and more of Mars' memories, the most amazing memories and the most soul-crushing memories, came flooding back to me every time I gazed into the flames, every time I slipped off into sleep's cold embrace. It was beginning to take a toll on me.

I remembered meeting the others for the first time as I was transplanted to the moon. Fighting together, having fun together. I remembered Serenity and Endymion's wedding. I remembered the complete destruction of Mars. I remembered the grief. I remembered training. I remembered consoling Venus every time she was hurt, physically or otherwise. I remembered falling in love with her, and I remembered making love to her. I remembered a love that had spanned a thousand lifetimes, and I remembered a love that would span a thousand more.

 _Kami-sama_ , were the others tormented this way?

I saw the future, and more and more of it concerned Aino Minako. I saw us fight together, train together, fight _each other_ , together. I saw the depth and intensity to our relationship shift. I saw physical passion, but I couldn't see the one thing I'd hoped to see.

My dreams left me waking up soaked in sweat more often than not. The first time Venus and Mars had made love was always at the edge of my unconscious mind. The passion pouring through Mars' veins...the way she kissed Venus...the love, the lust we'd shared. My heart pounded just thinking about it. The embraces we shared. We? Yes, we. We were Mars and Venus incarnate. The intimacy. And I could remember curling into her chest, kissing her. Her reminding me that our love was eternal.

"So much for eternal," I would mumble to the blackness of my room every time.

I had my memories; I had my feelings. I knew she'd keep climbing into my bed at night, but I didn't see anything more than that ever happening. It hurt me more deeply than I'd ever imagined. My body would come undone with her hands, and hers with mine... but she had my soul, too. The pain lay not in the bittersweet physical pleasure we gave each other, but with the knowledge that those deep, blue eyes possessed my soul more than this fire ever could. I loved Aino Minako, and I could only hate Tsukino Usagi for possessing Minako's heart.

* * *

 **Addendum:** The lines at the beginning of each chapter are pulled from a translation of Aikawa Nanase's "Koigokoro." (恋心) Furthermore, both chapters were revised and slightly expanded in May of 2016.


End file.
